Trauma Therapy:The Road To Healing
Unfortunately, trauma is a very real and very common occurrence. It can also be very debilitating. Traumatic situations may include – but certainly are not limited to – events such as experiences in war, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, witnessing a violent crime, being the victim of a violent crime, natural disasters, and car accidents. Whether you, a friend, or a family member are suffering after experiencing a traumatic event, there is hope with trauma therapy.
Most people are familiar with the term “post-traumatic stress disorder”,
but going through traumatic events affects different people in different ways. New or existing psychological disorders such as phobias, anxiety, depression, or flashbacks may occur on their own or as part of a larger constellation of physical and mental health problems.
The most common forms of treatment used in trauma therapy include cognitive behavioral therapy and medication such as propanolol. There are a variety of other forms of psychotherapy that are individually tailored to the particular individual or treatment center. Exposure therapy, stress inoculation testing, cognitive therapy, and eye movement desensitization may be used alone or in conjunction with each other in order to achieve optimal results.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of trauma therapy that attempts to change the underlying way a patient feels about the events that happened to them and the negative emotions that surround the event. In this type of treatment program, the victim learns to replace thoughts that make them feel afraid or upset with thoughts that are less stressful and more emotionally healthy. A subset of cognitive behavioral therapy is exposure therapy and requires the patient to re-experience distressing memories and events. This type of treatment may use both imaginary and real reminders of the traumatic event. Naturally, it is a highly distressing form of treatment but can have very good success.
Utilizing certain types of medication such as anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, alpha-agonists, antipsychotics, beta-blockers, benzodiazepines, and anti-depressants may successfully help control symptoms acquired after experiencing a traumatic event. However, care must be taken in the type and amount of medication prescribed. Many victims turn to self-medication with illicit drugs or alcohol and develop addictive personalities. As such, drugs like benzodiazepines may not be a wise choice because they can be highly addictive on their own and will depress respiration if combined with alcohol, potentially leading to a fatal event.
Benzodiazepines are a good medication for patients experiencing sleep disturbances and nightmares or intense anger and anxiety. Anti-depressants usually work well for victims disturbed by intrusive or dissociative recall, avoidance, feelings of detachment, and restricted range of affect. Antipsychotics are a good class of medications to consider for those patients experiencing impulsiveness, intense anger, irritability, aggression, or general hyperarousal.
In conclusion, there are a variety of successful ways to treat individuals that are physically and emotionally suffering due to experiencing a traumatic event in their life. Most trauma therapy programs will tailor the details of treatment to the individual in order to achieve maximum long-term success.
